Delightful Douro

[Babcia7]

A few weeks ago my husband and I returned from a wonderful trip on Uniworld's Queen Isabel, flanked by 3 nights in Madrid and 2 in Lisbon. Overall it was a great experience. Here are a few of my thoughts:

 

Pros:

• Our time in Madrid. Beautiful hotel in a perfect location that provided a delicious and huge breakfast buffet each morning. The Uniworld hosts at the hotel and all of our guides were top notch. Our excursions were interesting, the sights amazing. A highlight was the Flaminco show and dinner. We also loved exploring on our own and having a variety tapas at recommended restaurants. We enjoyed the trips to Toledo and Salamanca, and the transition to our Portuguese hosts while in Salamanca was flawless.
  
• The crew aboard the Queen Isabel. While in Salamanca, we met some of our Queen Isabel staff, including the cruise manager, Ricardo. He was the cruise manager on one of our previous Uniworld trips, and he remembered us, along with 2 other couples that had been on that same cruise! Like all of Queen Isabel's crew, Ricardo is from Portugal. This was very different from the crew members on other river cruises we've been on, whom are mostly from parts of Eastern Europe. Although we have always thought Uniworld's staff have been excellent, it was refreshing that the crew on Q.I. were all Portuguese. Their pride in their country, and their eagerness to share its beauty was evident throughout our trip. The entertainer on the ship, Miguel was by far the best we've ever experienced on a river cruise. He played the keyboard beautifully, and sang equally well. Although he was dealing with a somewhat lethargic crowd in the evenings, he was very engaging and tried his best to get people out on the dance floor, or just to sing along!
  
• The food. Generally I thought the food was very good to excellent. I always love how Uniworld incorporates local, fresh food on the menus. Drinks were plentiful, wines decent and the port wonderful. I became a big fan of Vino Verde and Port tonics while on board (especially when the weather became sultry).
  
• The ship. Although it definitely is not as fancy as other Uniworld ships we've been on, it was fine for us. Others thought it was "old and tired" and one couple on the ship thought their room was rather dirty. Not the case in ours.
  
• The Douro River itself. Some of the most spectacular scenery we've experienced on any river (We've been on the Rhine, Danube, Main and Seine in Europe, and several in the States). We also loved the fact that the river is not a major thoroughfare and there is little industry along the route. It is not yet inundated with river cruise ships (I think we only saw TWO Viking ships along the way)!!
  
• Our guides and the excursions while on the Douro. All were wonderful. On our walking guide through the historical part of Port, there were only eight in our group! On other excursions the numbers in our group varied, but I believe they were always less than 20. We loved the trips to the vineyards and the included wine and port tastings. One day we were served lunch in a wine cellar, surrounded by huge barrels of wine!
  
• The passengers on our ship. We had a great group of people on our ship and everyone seemed to enjoy each others company. There were only 80 some people on board, 50 of whom were repeat Uniworld passengers. A good third of the passenger hailed from Australia, some were from Great Britain, a few from South Africa and the rest from the U.S. It was a great mix!
  
• The swimming pool. Though small, my husband and I enjoyed sitting neck deep in water watching the beautiful scenery go by, and when the weather turned steamy, it was a relaxing respite from the heat.
  

The cons:

• As we were heading to the airport to begin our trip, we got a call from American Airlines informing us that our flight from Philadelphia to Madrid had been canceled!! We made a quick u-turn, headed back home, called AA and were luckily able to re-book a flight to Madrid (via Heathrow) later that night. I immediately called the Uniworld office to inform them of our flight change and that we would be arriving in Madrid at noon instead of 6 a.m. (the time of arrival of our canceled flight). The Uniworld rep said the manifest had already gone out, but he would try to contact the Madrid team to let them know of the change. When we arrive in Madrid, there was no Uniworld rep to meet us. After some time spent searching, we finally located some other Uniworld passengers and then were greeted by the Uniworld rep who informed us that we were not on their roster, and there wasn't room for us in the provided transportation. It took many more minutes for them to figure something out with the drivers, and after a less than positive greeting, we were finally on our way to the hotel. As my husband commented, in this day when technology is so advanced and communication so immediate, there was absolutely no reason for there to have been such confusion. I wrote to Uniworld about this mix-up, but have yet to receive a response.
  
• The heat. Although the weather is out of anyone's control, the Queen Isabel had a difficult time keeping up with the high temperatures. As hard as the staff tried (on more than one day at port the captain and crew were hosing down the sundeck in an attempt to help cool the ship). The air conditioning on the ship was not functioning properly, and as temperatures rose so did tempers. We heard a lot of complaining from passengers about the hot, stuffy conditions onboard. I think my husband and I might have been a bit more comfortable, since we were in one of the aquarium cabins, partially submerged in the river and not having as much exposure to the heat and sun.
  
• Lisbon. Although I know this is totally subjective, I felt our time in Lisbon was quite a letdown compared to the rest of the days of our trip. The location of the hotel was a bus ride away from anything interesting to explore. The reception itself the first evening was minimal. Breakfast buffet was very good, however. We had basically a bus tour of the more historic part of the city, but had a fairly mediocre guide. We had the option of returning to the hotel after the tour, or remaining in town for lunch, etc. Uniworld provided shuttles back to the hotel beginning at 3 p.m. Since there was nothing of interest to see around the hotel, we remained in town for lunch, did some walking through town, then got on the first shuttle back to the hotel. We intended to cool off and rest in our room before going out to dinner on our own. As soon as we returned to the room, we heard a jack hammering type noise coming from the room above us. My husband went down to the reception desk to see if the noise could stop. He was given an apology, but the noise would continue until 6 p.m. We ended up leaving our room and the loud noise to sit in a bar area. We told Tomas (the Uniworld hotel rep) about the construction noise and suggested that he might want to make sure that future Uniworld clients were not put in rooms that would be subjected to that disruption. I also wrote my concern to customer service at Uniworld, and have yet to receive anything but their automated response.
  
• Onboard booking. My husband and I signed up for a tentative future cruise with Uniworld. The cruise manager, Ricardo, told us that we would receive a 5% discount for reserving while on board. In addition, the daily schedule stated in writing that we would receive a 5% discount for reserving a cruise while onboard. When we arrived home, I looked at our booking and we were given a 3% discount. I contacted our travel agent and she said Uniworld had lowered its onboard booking incentive to 3% starting in 2019. This should have been conveyed to the cruise manager and to whomever printed up the daily schedules. We weren't particularly happy with the apparent lack of communication.
  

We are avid Uniworld customers and have always enjoyed the time we've had on their itineraries. This is the first time we've had a few less than positive experiences, but overall it was a wonderful journey.

[Captiveguru]

"The Douro River itself. Some of the most spectacular scenery we've experienced on any river (We've been on the Rhine, Danube, Main and Seine in Europe, and several in the States). We also loved the fact that the river is not a major thoroughfare and there is little industry along the route. It is not yet inundated with river cruise ships..."

We just completed our first European River Cruise (The Rhine on AmaStella from Basel to Amsterdam). We liked the experience, but frankly were disappointed over the amount of industry. The only good days (actually half-days), were the Rhine Gorge and the Amsterdam-Rhine canal.

The Douro sounds like a completely different experience. It is now on our list.

[Roz]

Babcia,

 

Thank you for your well written review. Correct me if I'm wrong, but similar to the way things operate in Russia, Uniworld doesn't own the ships on the Douro. I think my TA mentioned that starting in 2919, the contract of the gentleman who has the monopoly expires, and cruise lines can operate their own vessels. Maybe that's why your ship was a bit worn? Did the people with the dirty cabin bring it to the attention of the front desk? If so, what if anything was done?

 

Roz

[Babcia7]

Roz,

I believe the ships are currently owned by Douro Azul. Maybe the ships will all be upgraded when the independent cruise lines are the actual owners, not just the operators. As I said, my husband and I didn't have a problem with the ship being "old and tired", but other passengers made comments to that effect.

I don't know if the couple who complained about their room brought it to the attention of the staff. The wife showed me a cell phone picture she took of the dirt she found in their cabin while we were on the bus to Lisbon.

[Roz]

Thanks for the response, Babcia. My TA is letting her Uniworld customers know about the changeover next year. Apparently she knows or assumes that there will be upgrades next year when cruise lines can sail their own ships.

 

Roz

[laverendrye]

Douro Azul indeed owns and operates most of the ships on the Douro and leases them to the various cruise lines. The exceptions are Scenic and its other brand Emerald, which do own their ships. I cruised with Emerald this past June and was quite impressed with the ship and the service. Unlike all the other lines, Scenic/Emerald have their berth in Porto on the north side of the river as opposed to Vila Nova de Gaia on the south. It makes it a bit more convenient for walking about town.

 

I had cruised the Douro back in 2012 with Uniworld on a Douro Azul ship (Douro Spirit) which was transferred to Viking at the end of that season. It was replaced by the newly launched Queen Isabel in 2013. I thought that the service on the Douro Spirit was certainly up to Uniworld’s standards, although a significant drawback was a noisy dining room on the lowest deck. Perhaps after 5 years’ service the Queen Isabel is becoming tired as some have noted.

 

I’ve been a steady Uniworld customer over the years, but it seems that they have become quite pricey now even considering that they are now mostly all-inclusive, and I have read reports of their service slipping. That has not been my experience, but my last Uniworld cruise was on the River Queen two years ago and things may have changed since then.

 

 

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